UNIT-2

INTRODUCTION
AND THEORY
OF
SOUND
SOUND

 Any disturbance that travels through an elastic medium such as air, ground, or water to be
heard by the human ear.
 When a body vibrates, or moves back and forth (see vibration), the oscillation causes a
periodic disturbance of the surrounding air or other medium that radiates outward in
straight lines in the form of a pressure wave. The effect these waves produce upon the ear
is perceived as sound.
 From the point of view of physics, sound is considered to be the waves of vibratory
motion themselves, whether or not they are heard by the human ear

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND WAVES

 Sounds are generally audible to the human ear if their frequency (number of vibrations
per second) lies between 20 and 20,000 vibrations per second, but the range varies
considerably with the individual.
 Sound waves with frequencies less than those of audible waves are called subsonic; those
with frequencies above the audible range are called ultrasonic ( ultrasonics).
 A sound wave is usually represented graphically by a wavy, horizontal line; the upper
part of the wave (the crest) indicates a condensation and the lower part (the trough)
indicates a rarefaction. This graph, however, is merely a representation and is not an
actual picture of a wave.

 The length of a sound wave, or the wavelength, is measured as the distance from one
point of greatest condensation to the next following it or from any point on one wave to
the corresponding point on the next in a train of waves. The wavelength depends upon the
velocity of sound in a given medium at a given temperature and upon the frequency of
vibration. The wavelength of a sound can be determined by dividing the numerical value
for the velocity of sound in the given medium at the given temperature by the frequency
of vibration.
  Sound waves can be reflected, refracted (or bent), and absorbed as light waves can be.
The reflection of sound waves can result in an echo—an important factor in the acoustics
of theaters and auditoriums.
 A sound wave can be reinforced with waves from a body having the same frequency of
vibration, but the combination of waves of different frequencies of vibration may produce
“beats” or pulsations or may result in other forms of interference

CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH AND HEARING

Vocal and instrumental sounds comprise several frequencies which occur simultaneously. It is
the combination of these frequencies which lens a particular characteristic to the sound heard. In
fact, any audible sound has three important characteristics frequency or pitch, loudness and tonal
quality. Any voice of instrument produces various frequencies. Lowest frequency is called
fundamental frequency, while all the higher ones are called overtones or harmonics.
Overtones, which are exact multiples of the fundamental, are called harmonics. It is mainly the
distribution and intensity of these overtones, which lend quality to the sound and enable us to
recognize or identify one sound from another. The elimination of these overtones, for instance,
would cause the tones of musical instruments of one family to reasonable one another. The
scientist refers to the presence of over tones as tonal quality, while the musician calls it timbre,
brilliance or tone colour.

In speech the overtones are necessary for proper intelligibility, while the fundamental
frequencies are not. The latter, however, are important for preserving the naturalness of the
voice. Telephone and whispered conversations are two examples where mainly overtones or
higher frequencies are present. In both the cases, the fundamental or lower frequencies are
considerably attenuated.

It may be observed that the pitch or frequency of a sound is independent of the intensity of
loudness of a sound. Pitch, by the way, is closely related to frequencies, but is not exactly the
same. While pitch is a psychological phenomenon determined by the frequency of a sound-
wave, frequency is a physical quantity and can be easily measured. It may also be stated that
a sound is called a ‘pure tone’ when it consists of a single frequency, but when two or more
frequencies are present it is called a complex tone.

Loudness is a physiological effect of sensation produced thought the ear and depends on
the intensity of sound or the amount of energy present in the sound waves while entering it.
In open-air conditions loudness falls away very rapidly as the distance from the some of sound
increases. Loudness or intensity of sound at any point is inversely proportional to the square of
the distance from the source. This law does not, however, apply to closed or semi-closed
enclosures like studies and auditoria where open-air conditions do not exist. In such cases
loudness decreases less rapidly due to the reflections of sound which … the direct sound and
compensate for its decrease.

Then we see that a discussion of frequency range, energy content and power range of speech and
music frequencies as well as the characteristics of the ear would be useful, in fact, are important
for the proper comprehension of the problems involved in the satisfactory acoustical design of
various rooms.

We know, air-borne sound is a variation in normal atmospheric pressure. The extent aids and …
of this sound pressure is measured in terms of a unit called the microbar, which efforts that i of
one dyne per sq.cm. The sound pressure can also be expressed as a sound and auditoria. We
expect to a reference sound pressure which is generally 0.0002 microbar (or 0.0002 dynes per
sq.cm.) This unit, however, is not often mentioned in giving relates of various measurements but
is usually implied when the more common term ‘decibel’, discussed below, is used.

Frequency Ranges.

In so far as the Indian musical instruments are concerned, complete and thorough investigations
have not yet been made, although this question has been taken up by the Research Department of
All India Radio and, perhaps, by some other organizations also. Results of a preliminary study of
some of the instruments, made by the former, have been included in Appendix I which gives a
description of the ‘Musical Instruments of India’ together with photographs of some of the
popular instruments in the manner they are played. It is apparent that the frequency ranges
covered by these instruments are also quite wide.

Frequency range of human voice together with the approximate intensity range of fundamentals,
vowels, consonants and overtones, etc. It would be observed that the fundamental of a male
voice is around 128 cps, while that of a female voice is around 256 cps.
These contribute the maximum to the sound pressure which may go up to 100 dynes per sq.cm.
The overtones go up to about 7000 cps in the case of the former and to about 9000 cps in the
case of the latter. It would be noticed that next to the fundamentals, vowels and voiced
consonants with their frequency range between 500 to 3000 cps, contribute the maximum to the
sound pressure (upto 10 dynes per sq.cm.) while unvoiced consonants, with their frequency
range of 2500 to 8000 cps, contribute much less (upto 0.5 dynes per sq.cm.).

The contribution from overtones lies in the range of 0.01 to 5 dynes per sq.cm. The frequency
ranges of speech and musical sounds that can be heard by the human ear. It may be observed
that, in the reproduction of speech and orchestral music with perfect fidelity, we require a
frequency range of 100 to 8000 cps in the former case and a range of 40 to 14,000 cps in the later
case.The range of frequencies in noises is quite wide and depends naturally upon the type of
noise. Hand-clapping, foot steps, traffic or neighbour’s radio are some of the noises and include
both musical and non-musical sounds. The range of frequency in the case of key jingling,
footsteps and hand-clapping, for example, lies between 100 to 15,000 cps.Very recently (1959),
W.M. Welch Manufacturing Company, Illinois, U.S.A. have published an interesting and useful
chart of ‘Frequency Ranges of Music and Sound Reproducing Systems’ which has been
compiled jointly by R.W. Young and H.F. Olson. This chart appears to be the latest authoritative
compilation on the subject. Their respective footnotes under Musical Instruments and Sound
Reproducing Systems given on the chart are reproduced below for the convenience of the reader.

Musical Instruments Sound Reproducing System

The dark bars in the upper part of the
chart mark the playing ranges of common
musical instruments including the voice.
The mechanism of the instrument usually
sets the lower limit of the playing range,
whereas the skill of the performer often
determines the upper limit. The light bars
indicate approximately how far upward in
frequency represented by dark bars. For
transposing instruments the ranges shown
are those of the actual sounds and not as
the notes are written. For example, E3
written for the B soprano clarinet
corresponds to D3 on the char. The piano
is normally tuned in equal temperament
and by international agreement, A4 = 440
cps. Since the intervals are represented by
the frequency ratio 122 middle C = 261.6
There is considerable variation in frequency ranges
of reproducing systems in any one class, depending
upon the application, the size, and the design. In the
lower part of the chart, dark bars represent the
minimum frequency range and the shaded bars
extend through maximum frequency ranges. for
example, the telephone of 1925 had a range of 300
to 2,000 cps, while the modern telephone has a
range of 200 to 4,000 cps,. For radio receivers,
magnetic tape recorders and phonograms, the
indicated minimum range is characteristic of the
small portable instrument while a maximum range
of 30 to 20,000 cps may be covered by high fidelity
instruments. sound motion picture producers extend
from portable instruments up to high quality
equipment for deluxe theatre installations. The
range of television is limited by the receiver’s
electronic and loudspeaker system and the ambient
cps. The frequency of Co, 16.35 cps is noise level in the studio. Reinforcing systems
about the lowest frequency of sound that include inter-communicating, public address and
produces a sensation truly tonal in other amplifying systems.
character.
DISTRIBUTION OF ENERGY IN SPEECH AND MUSIC FREQUENCIES

Curve taken from the data of Crandall and Mackenzis. The ordinate represents energy of average
speech corresponding to the frequencies shown by the abscissa.
The maximum occurring at 200 cycles does not indicate that maximum intensity or maximum
amplitude is obtained at that frequency. The data represented were obtained in such a way that
the energy shown includes not only the amplitude or intensity at any frequency but also includes
how often energy of that frequency occurs in speech and how long it is sustained when it does
occur. The high maximum is caused primarily by, the fundamental tones of the voice The
fundamental, a, we know, occurs in all of the vowel sounds which are held longer than other
speech sounds. It is, therefore, evident that the time factor rather than the intensity factor
contributes a great deal to this high maximum. If this curve is corrected for sensitivity of the ear
(the curve is obtained which gives relative values of the average sound level in speech, as
perceived by the ear, at different frequencies. The maximum, it is noticed, occurs between 500
and 1000 cps. is a similar curve for music.
In this connection curves prepared by Dunn and While are rather informative and interesting for
an average speaker, the percentage of the speech power lying below a given frequency. It would
be observed that there is hardly any power in the frequencies above 1000 cps where most of the
consonants lie the total speech power per cycle of frequency in average conversation is plotted as
a function of frequency. This gives an idea of the frequency distribution of average speech
power.
Again, it may be observed that all parts of the frequency spectrum do not contribute to speech
intelligibility. Dunn and White have divided the spectrum into ten bands, which contribute
equally to the intelligibility of speech. This shows that the frequencies below 250 cycles and
above 7000 cycles do not contribute much to the intelligibility of speech, while it is well-known
that they do contribute to the naturalness of the voice.

Power Emitted by Musical Instruments. Instruments. Power emitted by various musical

instruments and orchestral combinations for soft (pianissimo) and hard (fortissimo) playings
have been determined by various authorities.The instantaneous peak power emitted (1) by an
orchestra of 75 players is as much. 14 to 70 watts; (ii) by the bass drum is 25 watts, (iii) by the
cymbals is 10 watts; (iv) by the piano is 0.4 watt; (v) by the flute clarinet, piccolo, or French
horn is 0 66-watt, (vi) by the softly played violin is 4 microwatts, (vii) o the cornet 0.31 watt; and
(viii) by the trombone is 6 watts. It would be observed that the range of the variation of power
emission is about 18 million.

Average Power Output of Human Speech. In. ordinary conversation this is about. 10 microwatts
(100 ergs per sec.) Power output varies with a person’s mood and his habit of speaking low or
loud and the circumstances under which he is speaking . He would naturally be speaking much
louder when addressing a large audience and the power emitted may be as much as 1000 to 2000
microwatts (i.e. about 100 to 200 times that of the power output of conversation). At the other
extreme he would emit only about 10-9 watts in whispered conservation.

INTELLIGIBILITY OF SPEECH

The intelligibility of speech refers to the accuracy with which a normal listener can understand a
spoken word or phrase. Given the fact that some of the information communicated through
speech is contained within contextual, visual and gestural cues, it is still possible to understand
meaning even if only a fraction of the discrete speech units are heard correctly. However, in
large auditoria and places where reproduced speech is used, the listener has limited access to
these cues and must rely more heavily upon the sound actually produced by the mouth.
Research into this area began with the development of telephone and telecommunication systems
in the early part of this century. A product of this research was a quantitative measure for
intelligibility based on articulation testing. This procedure (as described by Lochner and Burger)
normally consists of an announcer reading out lists of syllables, words or sentences to one or
more listeners within the test enclosure. The percentage of these correctly recorded by the
listeners is called the articulation score and is then taken as an 'in-situ' measure of the speech
intelligibility of that enclosure.

As stated before, normal connected speech can be understood even if some of the syllables are
unintelligible. This is due to the fact that the listener can deduce the meaning from the context of
the sentence. However, even under perfect conditions, the maximum word score normally
attainable is about 95% due to unavoidable errors. A word score of 80% enables the audience to
understand every sentence without due effort. In a room where the word score is closer to 70%,
the listener has to concentrate to understand what is said whilst below 60% the intelligibility is
quite poor.
GENERATION OF SOUND WAVES

 Sound waves are generated by any vibrating body. For example, when a violin string
vibrates upon being bowed or plucked, its movement in one direction pushes the
molecules of the air before it, crowding them together in its path.
 When it moves back
again past its original
position and on to the other
side, it leaves behind it a
nearly empty space, i.e., a
space with relatively few
molecules in it. In the
meantime, however, the
molecules which were at first
crowded together have
transmitted some of their
energy of motion to other
molecules still farther on and
are returning to fill again the space originally occupied and now left empty by the retreating
violin string.
 In other words, the vibratory motion set up by the violin string causes alternately in a
given space a crowding together of the molecules of air (a condensation) and a thinning out of
the molecules (a rarefaction).
 Taken together a condensation and a rarefaction make up a sound wave; such a wave is
called longitudinal, or compressional, because the vibratory motion is forward and backward
along the direction that the wave is following. Because such a wave travels by disturbing the
particles of a material medium, sound waves cannot travel through a vacuum.

THE PROPAGATION OF SOUND

 Sound is propagated in air, much like blowing up a large balloon, which expands equally
in all directions. For sound to be generated and heard it must have a source, a medium
through which to pass and a receiver. Propagation means "movement through" something in
this context. You can study the propagation of sound through air, for example, the most
common kind of sound there is for people. Sound propagates through water as well, as you
can easily prove by taking a dip in the pool.
 All media have three properties which affect the behavior of sound propagation:
 A relationship between density and pressure. This relationship, affected by
temperature, determines the speed of sound within the medium.
  The motion of the medium itself, e.g., wind. Independent of the motion of
sound through the medium, if the medium is moving, the sound is further
transported.
 The viscosity of the medium. This determines the rate at which sound is
attenuated. For many media, such as air or water, attenuation due to
viscosity is negligible.

 Sound is a
sequence of waves of
pressure which propagates
through compressible
media such as air or water.
(Sound can propagate
through solids as well, but
there are additional modes
of propagation). During
their propagation, waves
can be reflected, refracted, or attentuated by the
medium
 For purposes of this discussion we will assume
that we are talking about normal speech
communications. The source is the speaker’s voice,
the medium through which it is transmitted is air and
the receiver is the listeners ear.
 As sound is generated by the speaker’s speech, the
speakers voice acts like a diaphragm which causes
the molecules in the air to pulsate back and forth
while moving in all directions, at a speed of 1130
ft per second (770 mph).
 A single segment of a sound wave may be
characterized as pressure compressions and
rarefactions.

TRANSMISSION OF SOUND

 There are three requirements for sound to "occur" in an environment:

(1) A vibrating source to initiate sound,
(2) A medium to transmit sound vibrations throughout the environment and
(3) A receiver to hear or record sound vibrations.
Sound is initiated in an environment by a vibrating source.
 Vibrating sources are many and varied in the World -- vocal cords, a membrane of
animal hide or synthetic material, a stretched string that is plucked or bowed, objects such
as wood, stone, clay, metal and glass that are struck, rattling of beads in a small
enclosure, clapping of hands, singing of birds, grunts and groans of animals, buzzing of
lips in a small resonating tube, splitting of an air stream, small pieces of reed attached to
a tube and set in motion by the action of human breath, and many, many other natural
vibrating sources, Sound may also be produced artificially by electronic synthesis. To
create vibration there must be a certain amount of surface tension in the vibrating body.
Solid objects or reeds possess inherent tension. Strings or membranes must first be
stretched to sustain vibration.
 A medium of sound transmission must be present to transmit vibrations of a sound source
to a receiver. Two efficient mediums of sound transmission are gases (such as air) and
liquids (such as water). Sound is not capable of being transmitted in a vacuum. Water is a
more efficient transmitter of sound compared to air as sound travels faster and further in
water.
 A vibrating source transmits its vibrations through a medium by causing the medium to
move, or vibrate, at exactly the same speed of vibration as the source itself. The
movement of the gas or liquid medium is identical to surface waves found on any large
body of water. Surface waves on water move up and down, and they transmit energy
from one point to another; from a source (tidal action, wind, a passing ship, an
earthquake) to receiver (the shoreline).
 Sound transmission through the air is accomplished by a similar physical process. The
sound source initiates waves in the air, and the air moves up and down (like surface water
waves) at the same rate of speed as the sound source. This motion of the medium is
sensed by a receiver, such as the human ear or a recording microphone
 One complete up-and-down movement of the sound source is called a cycle and the rate
of speed of the vibrations of a particular sound source is measured in the number of
complete cycles that the source moves per second (cycles per second or "cps"). In recent
years the expression of cps has been assigned to a proper name, Hertz (Hz), after
Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894). Hertz generated and detected electromagnetic waves across
the length of his laboratory on a wavelength of approximately one metre. To detect the
electromagnetic waves Hertz employed a simple form of oscillator, which he termed a
resonator. Cps is now expressed as Hz (i.e. 1000 Hz, rather than 1000 cps).
 A Sound receiver senses vibrating motion from a source which is transmitted through a
medium. The human hearing organ, the ear, is a sound receiver, as is a recording
microphone. The human hearing network consists of the outer ear chamber, the ear canal,
the eardrum (the tympanic membrane), and the inner ear (cochlea) in the shape of a
spiral. The inner ear contains innumerable minute hair (cilia) outgrowths of graduated
sizes that respond to different speeds of sound vibrations transmitted by the tympanic
membrane. The network of minute cilia receptors is directly connected to the nervous
 system, which sends the information sensed by the cilia directly to the brain, where it is
processed and reacted to by different parts of the body.
 In order for sound to travel between the source and the receiver there must be some
material between them that can vibrate in the direction of travel (called the propagation
direction).
o The motion of the sound-producing body causes density variations in the medium
which move along in the direction of propagation. The transmission of sounds in
the form of these density variations is termed a wave since these variations are
carried forward without significant change, although eventually friction in the air
itself causes the wave to dissipate.
o Since the motion of the medium at any point is a small vibration back and forth in
the direction in which the wave is proceeding, sound is termed a longitudinal
wave. (The water wave, like the violin string, is an example of a transverse wave.)
o The most usual medium of sound transmission is air, but any substance that can
be compressed can act as a medium for sound propagation. A fundamental
characteristic of a wave is that it carries energy and momentum away from a
source without transporting matter from the source.
 The wavelengths of speech are of the size of ordinary objects, unlike light, whose
wavelengths are extremely small compared to items that are part of everyday life.
Because of this, sound does not ordinarily cast "acoustic shadows" but, because its
wavelengths are so large, can be transmitted around ordinary objects. For example, if a
light is shining on a person, and a book is placed directly between them, the person will
no longer be able to see the light (a shadow is cast by the book on the eyes of the
observer). However, if one person is speaking to another, then placing a book between
them will hardly affect the sounds heard at all; the sound waves are able to go around the
book to the observer's ears. On the other hand, placing a high wall between a highway
and houses can greatly decrease the sounds of the traffic noises if the dimensions of the
wall (height and length) are large compared with the wavelength of the traffic sounds.
Thus, sound waves (as for all waves) tend to "go around" (e.g., ignore the presence of)
obstacles which are small compared with the wavelength of the wave; and are reflected
by obstacles which are large compared with the wavelength.
 In general, the speed of sound in liquids is greater than in gases, and greater still in solids.
In sea water, for example, the speed is about 4,750 ft/sec (1,447 m/sec); in a gas, the
speed increases as the pressure increases, and as the density decreases.
RECEPTION OF SOUND/ANATOMY OF EAR

 Physiological acoustics is the study of the transmission of sound and how it is heard by
the human ear. Sound travels in waves, vibrations that cause compression and rarefaction
of molecules in the air.
 Sound reception, response of an organism’s aural mechanism, the ear, to a specific form
of energy change, or sound waves.
 Sound waves can be transmitted through gases, liquids, or solids, but the hearing
function of each species is particularly (though not exclusively) sensitive to stimuli from
one medium. Sound energy is transmitted through air (or other particles) as a traveling
pressure wave.
 The human ear has three main sections, which consist of the outer ear, the middle ear,
and the inner ear.
 Sound waves enter your outer ear and travel through your ear canal to the middle ear.
 The ear canal channels the waves to your eardrum, a thin, sensitive membrane stretched
tightly over the entrance to your middle ear. The waves cause your eardrum to vibrate.
  It passes these vibrations on to the hammer, one of three tiny bones in your ear. The
hammer vibrating causes the anvil, the small bone touching the hammer, to vibrate.
 The anvil passes these vibrations to the stirrup, another small bone which touches the
anvil. From the stirrup, the vibrations pass into the inner ear.
 The stirrup touches a liquid filled sack and the vibrations travel into the cochlea, which is
shaped like a shell.
 Inside the cochlea, there are hundreds of special cells attached to nerve fibers, which can
transmit information to the brain.
 The brain processes the information from the ear and lets us distinguish between different
types of sounds.

BINOMIAL HEARING

In open air as well as in enclosures, the hearing is direct and binaural (i.e.with both the ears).
This helps to localize sound and obtain a correct idea of the sound perspective.Binaural hearing
could be easily compared to binocular vision. Just as an observer gets an impression of
direction and distance or depth with two eyes, similarly his two ears enable him to appreciate
the direction of sound and to a certain extent, the distance of sound as well. It is quite easy to
imagine how the two ears enable him to see the direction of sound which is primarily due to the
difference in the intensity of the two sounds reaching the two ears. It is the depth or the
perspective of sound; particularly in enclosures are auditoria, which needs some explanation.
This is obtained mainly due to relative change in the loudness of direct and reflected sound. It
may be observed that the reflected sound varies much weakened in intensity as the recede from
the speaker. Consequently the ratio of direct to the reflected sound varies considerably. It is for
this reason that as we go farther from the speaker the direct sound is weakened while the
reflected or reverberant sound becomes more and more noticeable. It is this factor which
permits binaural hearing to appreciate distance or depth.

It is not difficult to appreciate how monaural hearing causes loss of direction. It is common
experience to observe that the two ears enable the person consciously to suppress sounds coming
from one direction and to concentrate on desired sound from a given direction. Single ear is
unable to do this and consequently the noises and the reverberation present in the room or
apparently increased.

In a broadcasting studio, the microphone /radio / loudspeaker chain is equivalent to monaural

hearing. This cause

 Loss of localization of sound or directional discrimination.

 Loss of sound perspective, but the ability to distinguish between nearby and the distance
sound is not impaired, instead it may be enhanced.
 More susceptibility to background noise from all direction and
 Apparent increase in reverberation.
The broadcasting studio should, therefore, be designed for minimum noise level, the ideal being
10 /15 db above the threshold of audibility. However, under actual conditions it is not possible
to secure such a low noise level. So the figure of 30-35 decibel is taken as acceptable.

BEHAVIOUR OF SOUND IN ENCLOSED PLACES

Sound is generated in a room, it is absorbed and reflected in various proportion in accordance

with the number of constructed.

1. Sound is absorbed in
the air also appreciable to
reflected sound.

2. Sound in reflected at
the wall surface.

3. Sound is absorbed
from the wall surface or its
surface finished.

4. Sound is conducted
by the wall to other part of
the surface.

5. Sound is emitted by the resonance of the wall in both directions.

6. Sound is inter-reflected between bounding surface setting at reverberation.

7. Resonance of the enclosed volume of air by direct cross reflection.

WAVELENGTH OF SOUND WAVE

The wavelength of sound is the distance between

analogous points of two successive waves.

λ = c / f where

λ = wavelength (m)
c = speed of sound (m/s)
f = frequency
FREQUENCY OF SOUND WAVE

One complete up-and-down movement of the sound source is called a cycle. The number of
complete cycles that the source moves per second (cycles per second or "cps") is called
frequency. In recent years the expression of cps has been assigned to a proper name, Hertz (Hz),
after Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894).

PITCH OF SOUNDWAVE

The sensation of a frequency is commonly referred to as the pitch of a sound. A high pitch sound
corresponds to a high frequency sound wave and a low pitch sound corresponds to a low
frequency sound wave. Amazingly, many people, especially those who have been musically
trained, are capable of detecting a difference in frequency between two separate sounds that is as
little as 2 Hz.

Pitch is independent of intensity of loudness of sound. Pitch is a psychological phenomenon

determined by frequency of a sound wave whereas frequency is a physical quantity and can be
measured.

SOUND INTENSITY

The sound intensity in a specified direction is the amount of sound energy flowing through a unit
area normal to that direction. The sound intensity is normally measured in watt per square metre
(W/m2).Intensity refers to the amplitude of a sound.

SOUND PRESSURE

Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient (average, or
equilibrium) atmospheric pressure caused by a sound wave. Sound pressure can be measured
using a microphone in air and a hydrophone in water. The SI unit for sound pressure p is the
Pascal. Sound pressure level (SPL) or sound level is a logarithmic measure of the effective sound
pressure of a sound relative to a reference value. It is measured in decibels (dB) above a standard
reference level.

MEASUREMENT OF SOUND (SCALES/DECIBEL)

The decibel ( dB) is used to measure sound level, but it is also widely used in electronics, signals
and communication. The dB is a logarithmic unit used to describe a ratio. The ratio may be
power, sound pressure, voltage or intensity or several other things. Later on we relate dB to the
phon and the sone (units related to loudness).
Level
Times louder than
Db Typical everyday example
10dB

10dB Rustling or falling leaves. 1

20dB Watch ticking. 10
30dB Birds flying by. 100
40dB Quiet conversation. 1,000
50dB Louder conversation. 10,000
60dB Quiet traffic noise. 100,000
70dB+ Louder traffic 1,000,000
80dB+ Loud highway noise at close range 10,000,000
85dB Hearing damage after approximately 8 hours.
100dB Jackhammer (pneumatic drill) at close range 1,000,000,000
100dB Hearing damage after about 15 minutes.
110dB+ Jet engine at about 100m 10,000,000,000
Threshold of pain. Hearing damage after very brief
120dB
exposure.

THRESHOLD OF AUDIBILITY

The threshold of audibility at any specified frequency is the minimum value of sound pressure of
a pure tone of that frequency which is just audible The term is ued for complex waves such as
speech and music . It is measures in dynes per sq cm. (Refer Diagram in pg 6)

THRESHOLD OF FEELING

Sound pressure that can cause discomfort and pain. It is situated around 120 dB above the
threshold of hearing. It is measures in dynes per sq cm and also in watts per sq cm (Refer
Diagram in pg 6).

PHON

A unit of apparent loudness, equal in number to the intensity in decibels of a 1,000-hertz tone
perceived to be as loud as the sound being measured.

EFFECT OF REVEBRATION ON HEARING

The hang over effect of one syllable on the next distorts the speech by blending the end of the
first with the beginning of the second so as to mask the second syllable completely. The
reverberation characteristics may give an effect of frequency distortion because of reverberation
time being different for various frequencies. The effect of both will depend upon position of the
observer

HIGH FIDELITY REPRODUCTION OF MUSIC

This is a very controversial subject and many different viewpoints have been expressed on the
technician would say that every type of distortion does matter and that his technique more and
more improvement till he is able to put before the listener an exact replica of that is ‘heard’ by
the microphone. An average listener, however, does not worry about the distortion as long as the
programme remains interesting. A musician, on te other hand, would resent the absence of
certain frequencies as well as the presence of combination tones generated due to distortion in
the system. The most pessimistic viewpoint is that the ….. artificiality denies the possibility of
the faithful reproduction while, even in the presence of distortion, a programme may be pleasing
and emotion-evoking like a two dimensional picture of a three dimensional object.

In general, the listener of a broadcast, recording or a public address system does not grumble
about the reproducing system. He has, rather, learnt to tolerate its shortcomings. Experiments in
America, curiously enough, have shown that a system having a restricted frequency response is
preferred to that of one having a full range response. These cannot, however, he considered as
conclusive unless the reproducing system is absolutely free from distortion.

Loudspeaker is probably the greater hindrance in the wide band response. In static tests it may
have a flat characteristic but in actual working conditions it would prove unsatisfactory. This
may be explained by saying that any vibrating surface would continue to vibrate even when the
stimulus has ceased. This factor would obviously be a source of distortion in the reproduced
sound.

Tolerance of the public ear, has been the main reason why little progress has been made in regard
to the faithfulness of broadcast reproduction. Even a costly receiver, is not able to convey all the
benefits of improvements made in studio, ques. Perhaps in this respect our musicians also have
not proved good judge of the quality of reproduction. They give precedence to the composition
and technique of performance over the quality of individual instruments.

Hawkins has remarked that 90 percent of the listeners are ‘incidental’ ones and Only 10 per cent
are ‘cidental’ ones (this term has been coined meaning the opposite of incidental). By incidental
listeners, he means those who are engaged in some other activity while they listen to the
programme and are, therefore, not focusing their attention on its quality. For such a listener the
band width of the present systems is considered adequate and its permissible distortion quite
negligible.
‘High fidelity’ itself needs an explanation ideally, high ide1ity reproduction is tint which cannot
be told from the original. But the working definition depends upon the general progress of the art
A good system in the year 1947 was considered to have the following criteria:

(a) Zero gain from microphone to loudspeaker. i.e. the original sound is reproduced at the same
level; (b) the transient and steady state frequency response is within 5 db of each other and
neither departs more than 10 db of the 1000 cps value in the range of 80 to 8000 cps; (c) the
overall reverberation time is not to vary by a factor larger than 3 over this range; (d) the backs
round noise is to be 50 db below the maximum programme level (e) the noises, in the presence
of programme, is to be 30 db below the programme level on loud passages; (f) the inter
modulation distortion at the maximum level in the range of 60-100 cps may reach even 30
percent provided the fifth harmonic distortion in the range of 400 to 2000 cps does not exceed
0.3 per cent; (g) at other output levels of lower than 10 db below the maximum, the distortion is
to be les than 10 percent and fifth harmonic distortion is to be below ` per cent.

Hawkins remarks that probably less than 100 houses in the world would possess anything
better than this system. He suggests a degraded frequency response for incidental listening as
against faithful reproduction for ‘cidental’ listening, i.e. a tone control marked ‘cidental’ and
‘incidental’ should be provided. In the ‘incidental’ position the range of 2000 to 4000 cps should
have the minimum response, with a rise on either side.

Olson reformed certain tests regarding frequency range-preference for speech and music as heard
directly. He used a 5000 cycles low pas acoustic filter which approximates a good commercial
radio or phonograph. The results of the test clearly indicated a preference for full range. Those
who voted for restricted range had mostly a complaint against the variety of music rather than to
its quality. Similarly the speech with restricted range was disliked. The quality was termed
‘muddy’, ‘muffled’, ‘lacking intimacy’, ‘not as intelligible’ etc.

Olson concluded that results of this test arc contrary to those obtained with reproduced - sound.
The latter have shown a liking for restricted range. The reasons for preference for restricted
range in reproduced sound may be that: (a) the average listener is too much accustomed to the
quality of the existing systems, (b) the musical instruments probably are more pleasing with a
restricted response, and (c) the distortions and deviations from the original sound arc, perhaps,
less objectionable with restricted range. But the tests with direct hearing almost rule out the first
two rc4son.

The present position may be summarized by saying that the technician wants to have an exact
replica of the sound produced in the studio or stage, the musician is more concerned with the
composition and presentation of the music, while the listener is too much absorbed in other
activities to worry about the quality of reproduction and all that he wants is a synthesis giving a
satisfactory resolution of various instruments.